ProgPower Europe - Sjiwa Baarlo, 30 September 1&2 October 2022

 

Back in Baarlo!! I guess that is what counted most for all the regular visitors of Progpower. This festival managed to become more than just watching some bands to most of us, so the simple return to Baarlo put a smile on our faces. This is that weird place where you can see British people hug. Mind you also not naturals like the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavian. This year visitors came from 26 different countries, which could have been 27 if Andrew managed to bring his wife not only to Baarlo, but actually inside Sjiwa as well. Back to Baarlo for us starts at camping de Berckt. Caravans booked and Friday afternoon arrival commemorated by our traditional range of bockbeers. This year the camping had a German popduo performance for the Saturday, so note to selves was stay at Sjiwa and its basement until late that day. A direct result was that we were surrounded by Germans, but what is worse not by our English PPE camping friends. Apparently they did not find good original new outfits for their Sunday dress up affair, so Lee David and Mark see you in 2023.
 

The festival itself this year was to me one of the editions, where I would know only few bands on forehand. Further my participation at the chat and listening session of the Progfiles, made me somewhat worried about the lightness of it all. I started calling this to myself PPE 2022, the Progdreams edition as in my ears some of the bands would better play de Boerderij, than the sacred stage of Sjiwa. As such not a problem as I do like my progrock as well, but on forehand I did miss a franctic tech metal band waiting to blow us away. From what I knew of the bands playing I realized I probably would like Saturday night and Sunday afternoon best.I also do realize that this must have been the hardest year to complete a line-up as the uncertainty until spring on possibilities and the large amount of last minute cancelled tours by mainly US bands did show that a mix of corona and rising costs put our concert going future into uncertainties. Finally what annoyed before we could get started was the direct competition of prog related shows in The Netherlands at exact the same dates. Both Soen and Vola did show the finger to their earliest and loyal fans who received them with open arms, before they were known by the rest of the country. Small excuses of delayed tours by covid can be given, but in my book a progmetal band that was first appreciated in Baarlo should never book two Dutch shows during the very weekend PPE is held. Geoff Tate doing same is less of an impact, as I saw that tour earlier in the year and I already adviced that noone needs to see Geoff Tate and his playbacking coverband playing Queensryche. So only if he starts playing new own material I will go see him again. Looking at my own wide range of musical taste, I could (or should) have gone to Keep It True, where no less than twenty bands were playing that I have on CD and many I never saw live before. That would be in Germany, where also that annoying Euroblast keeps on programming in the same weekend, fishing in the same progmetalish fan-pool. But to me PPE is above any competition and not going was simply no option after the two year draught.  One of the results of this competition was that we lost 2 out of our 12 people 2019 group to Soen. We further lost 2 due to postponed holiday trips falling over this weekend and 1 due to work and one due to a reason noone really knows. So back to twelve years ago we were with six again. Still all looking forward more than a bit to a return to Sjiwa and Peter with recovering broken foot even had a barstool available upon request, so a first thanks to organization, before we even got started. Before I start commenting on bands it is 2022 so a disclaimer is needed. These are just my thoughts of the bands and I do realize that in some cases bands could be hugely successfull, but not my cuppa. The other way around can happen as well.
 

Friday kicked off with Mother Of Millions. I knew of their name, not of their music. When they came on I did recognize the vocalist though as I saw Poem before. Mother of Millions was slightly more moody and postrocking than that band, but opened the festival in style with a good set. For people like me not knowing their albums maybe a bit repetitive in their songs. What struck most is that the response of the audience was massive for an opening band. For me not one that made me run tot the merch table afterwards, but one to get in the right PPE mood again. The observing man in me also noted that back in Baarlo facial hair on stage is popular and even the seventies porn moustache is today acceptable again apparently.
 

The Friday headliner was Von Hertzen Brothers a band that managed to stay very much under the radar in The Netherlands. Years ago I subscribed Prog Magazine, where they were one of the 25 bands often hyped. That did not make me dug into the band, so another one where I started blanco. The good thing here was that I noticed throughout the set, that I moved more and more forward. What a great live band these brothers (and friends) turned out to be. At the start their combined high vocals reminded me of Styx and I do like Styx. When their third song was a single that Rune posted before (All Of A Sudden You’re Gone) I was won over. As they told themselves, their serious songs needed to be mixed with more upbeat light songs. Result of that was that I loved every minute of it and they did win over many new fans. Not as many as Mother of Millions did, as for some this was not the perfect headliner of the first night. For me they were and I got already confirmed why PPE is so good for discovering new bands. Question now is if they become slightly bigger than before in The Netherlands. I will go and see them again, if they return to Holland that is.
 

Saturday started with some sun, oh no rain, no sun again. So strategic planning of your cycling trip into town was needed, or you would be soaked. Inhalo opened the day. All I knew from them was that the vocalist used to sing in A  Liquid Landscape. He mentioned this and I was surprised we saw that band already 10 years ago. Inhalo were all fine and smooth, but for me not overly exciting as I missed some speed at times. The playing was flawless, but a typical half hour band , meaning that after a fair chance, good impression and half hour I went outside to catch up with friends.
 

Smalltape are from Germany, so why did they start ten minutes late? Technical issues solved this turned out to be interesting, but at the same time lost at the wrong stage. No power whatsoever, Smalltape play progrock. Pretty decent too and when the mainman starting joining drum rhythms the Brazilian in me (yes he exists) felt like singing Neeeense. As noone would understand that declared love for Fluminense I did not. Also as I can do so the coming month. Drifting back to the music, I felt after a while attentions moving elsewheer, so another 30 minute band to me. If they ever play de Boerderij in the future I might go and see them.
 

Feather Mountain was the next completely  unknown outfit to me. For starters they looked more like a metal band, but what’s that about the flowers? Nice stage lighting they brought along and a fine hour of djenty progmetal. At times going double loud at vocals, with a grunting bassist. The vocalist himself had a good voice, but was not overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Better at ease while singing, than talking. I did stay the full hour and pretty much liked the set throughout.
 

After dinner (or tosti in my case) Godsticks were on. I did not know them until recently, when in August I saw them at Comendatio Music Fest in Portugal. That was a positive surprise, since live they are pretty heavy all the time and there is some bulldozering rhythm coming at us. Tonight Godsticks were as good and with less technical issues in an even better flowing set. This was the first real highlight of the day to me and Godsticks proved they need to be seen again if returning to Holland.
 

Iotunn coming next and I was getting excited, like many others who loved their 2021 album Access All Worlds. For me one of the best CD’s of 2021 so would Iotunn be able to be as convincing live on stage. Here I can be short, they bloody well were. Everything fell tinto place and we got a mysterious presentation, a truly heavy sound and some amazing guitars. Vocalist Jón Aldará is one of the best voices in metal, as he seemingly effortless can move from clean powerfull singing to deep grunts. I saw him before with Barren Earth and Clouds and now I almost saw him with Iotunn, since a hoody did hide his face. That fitted the whole presentation, which was Black metallish. So no smalltalk inbetween songs, just letting the music do the talking. And the music spoke out loud. Completely overwhelmed this show goes straight into my top ten of Progpower performances ever. Nothing to complain? Well the T-shirts did not come in biggest sizes, but I hope to correct that when I will see them again at Brainstorm Festival next month.
 

So good luck Green Carnation following up on that energetic show. Well it turned out that Green Carnation could. Their music is slow and heavy, but their peformance was ace. When seeing them a few years ago at Prognosis, they turned into my favourite set of the day. I than also realized I have all their albums. Something you tend to forget when a band disappears for years. So again I did recognize the songs and they were good. At the merch table they did have Light of Day, Day of Darkness T-shirts, but we were not that lucky that their 90 minute set, would include that 60 minute song. A fine closer of the Saturday, which proved my advance feelings, that Saturday evening would be ace.
 

After a fine evening, one needs a cooling down. So hallo basement it was, where the metal karaoke made a welcome return. Filled with Dutch courage I also decided to destroy one classic rock song, but a wonderful way to end the Saturday it was. Arrriving back late, there were no more signs and more important sounds of a German Popduo at the campsite, so sleep well.
 

Sunday started early and unknown again. Neverus, are Dutch, while their vocalist is British. This was their first concert ever and that was hard to believe looking at their proffessional performances. Apparently their music is similar to Wintersun, but I don’t know music by that band. What they played today was good. A mix of death and powermetal with symphonic backgrounds. Their presentation was very sympathetic and this made them come over great as I saw many people enjoyng this set, which included even an air guitar. Nice opener of the day.
 

Nero di Marte are Italian and yet again a band I knew no music of on forehand. Some people tipped me that I would like them and they were right. This was one intense show where those trying to clap or bang along were challenged all the time. Nero di Marte mixed the very heavy with the truly progressive and for those getting their point definitely a highlight. Definitely not a band for everyone and I also would not know in which mood at home I would pick up a CD with such hectic and intense music. Finally with good Italian sense of humor they brought their nicest T-shirt only in S size, which means 98% of the crowd are out. So no merchandise support from me, but a really good show it was. Candidate for best comment of the weekend was made by Andrew "I knew their CD's expecting lots and than live they turned out to be a bit commercial".
 

With Vulkan the first band of the day came of whom I actually know music. All songs came from their strong 2020 album Technatura. Openening and ending similar to the album, with a collection of songs inbetween at random order. Partially sung in English and partially in Swedish makes it hard for most to get their concept album. Live as often happens it all sounded a notch heavier and I thought Vulkan great. Even after the two heaviest bands of the day, they stood their ground. Unfortunately for me the T-shirt story repeated itself yet again, as the one with the cover of their album was too small for me. So a beer in the basement was next. Having a dinner during the diner break (as the flyer tells) was no good plan as many people already left during Vulkan’s last songs in order to return in time for the next band.
 

Meer=Less. So I said it. Good band, wrong festival. I gave them an unfair three minute chance and they rubbed me in all the wrong ways. As tactically scheduled time for the  fastest pizzas ever served at Milano. Outside I bumped into other angry white middleaged males, who love their old skool Heavy Metal and wondered what them lot where doing in Sjiwa. Inside some 90% of the audience saw what was for them the finest show of the weekend. Goes to prove that musical taste is nice for discussion, but pointless. Later on talking with Jean Paul he reminded how during the early years A.C.T. were invited and the consensus was that they were probably too soft for ProgPOWER. Well Meer…
 

Avandra are the first band from Puerto Rico to hit the stage. They also were the most typical Progpower band of the weekend. By that I mean they play progmetal with some virtuoso playing and the right amount of heaviness. If you thought the keyboards were of the better level, that was because they brought Vikram Shankar along (known from Redemption, Silent Skies, Lux Terminus among others) Actually the whole band were mastering their instruments pretty well. Only that girl lost on stage? I could not hear her and later learned that people at the other corner also struggled to hear her sing. A nice show and a good band bringing us in mood back to older Progpower years.
 

Seventh Wonder were invited to close the fesstival. There is a certain group of bands that might headline Progpower and Seventh Wonder is among them. Their progmetal all sounds fine and is played very well. For me I liked them more during the early years. When they played Headway some 15(?) years ago and they had Waiting in The Wings as album to support. I think they got both a bit calmer and a bit repetitive of themselves thereafter. So for tired me a good sounding show, but not shocking and after some time I went outside for final talks. Tommy’s presentation shall always be good material for lively debates though.
 

And then it was over, or was it? Back to the eighties for some Hair Metal was scheduled in the basement. Together with Lia’s birthday a good reason to have one final beer downstairs. Again the organization added some fun, with 16 wigs for headbanging. Being bold I tried one to find quickly that wigs in mouth taste pretty disgusting. So horns up to the bold men banging to YMCA and Metal Militia on the stage. Suddenly I felt that also I did get three years older in the meantime. Back to the Campsite it was and one huge thank you for all involved in the organization of this truly magical festival experience ProgPower always is. Got the chance to catch up with so many old friends and vague acquaintances, that I am exhausted now. Maybe a month in Brazil can help getting over this. Now that’s a good plan.
 
 

Compass - Figure of Speechless - Karcius - Kings of Mercia - Soilwork - Speaking to Stones - Trial

Progpower Weekend. Some already arrived in Baarlo, I will only tomorrow. That does not stop me to suggest herewith seven bands that all would make Progpower an even better place.

Compass - Theory of Tides

Two years ago Compass made a positive arrival with their album Our Time on Earth. Now they are back with a concept album around the life of Galileo. Compass is the band where Steve Newmann steps away from his melodic rock band and goes more proggy. Still very accessible and melodic, this is just what you expect by now. Mix some good melodic hardrock and make it longer and more progressive in the songs. If you like both styles (like me) you love this mix.

Figure of Speechless - Tunnel at the End of the Light

Glen McMaster, I also did not hear of him before. An Australian songwriter guitarist who invited the following names for his album. Ray Alder, Ron Bumblefoot Thal, Derek Sherinian, Tony Franklin and Brian Tichy. All don't need any further introduction. The best news is that this album is as good as the names make you hope for. For me Ray Alder can do no wrong, but here the songs definitely help him shine. The surprise in progmetal this year? possibly so, must hear album.

Karcius - Grey, White, Silver, Yellow & Gold

This is the sixth Karcius album since 2004 and I had never heard of them. A tip from Andy on SFTW made me check them out. At Prog Archives they are filed under jazz rock/fusion, well I don't hear much of that. This album is either progmetal light or heavy progrock. Great songs, and excellent playing make it a joy of a ride through all those colours. Especially those who like bands like Kingcrow or Arena should hear this album. 

Kings of Mercia - Kings of Mercia

Jim Matheos and Steve Overland working together resulting in this self ttled debut album. Melodic hard rock to Jim Matheos probably, prog metalish for Steve Overland (FM) I guess. Completed by Joey Vera and Simon Phillips this band gives us one of the better melodic hardrock albums of recent times. Might need to hear through headphones to discover even more. Very pleasant and returning often in my CD player I guess. One tip: don't read the Angry Metal Guy review as you will hear something you can't unhear. Second tip: Next time don't print orange lyrics on blue pages as my reading glasses need a sudden upgrade.What a year for thsoe who feared a total Fates Warning absence.

Soilwork - Overgivenheten

I bought this album some weeks after the release due to being abroad. After it's release we lost David Anderson the main songwriter on this album, before I heard it. So it is impossoble to go through the booklet and not get emotional when his picture appears next to the lyrics Death, I Hear You Calling. Such a loss as Soilwork keep on getting better to me. For the melodic death metal purists they drifted too far away probably, for me the clean vocals, Night Flight Orchestra melodies next to the heavy Soilwork side work perfectly. This album should be appreciated by many who like any form of metal.

Speaking to Stones - (In)human Error

Speaking to Stones is a band of surprises, or a project by Tony M. Vinci. Their self titled debut album in 2006 was a hit for me and then they disappeared. Six years later Elements gave us five (very) long songs and off they went. Now ten years later we get treated on (in)human error. Again a fine progmetal album with a good mix of heavyness and melody. In the Netherlands released on No Dust, so let them give us more top level prog. Only the vocals sound to me a bit low or hidden in the mix. Now already curious what 2035 will bring us by this band.

Trial - Feed the Fire

The album I was looking out for most is the new Trial one. Vessel made it to my album of the year 2015. Motherless in 2017 was as good and when I saw them live they were wonderful. And then they lost vocalist Linus Johansson an important factor in my love for this band. New vocalist Arthur Andersson was introduced on covers single Sisters of the Moon / Die Young (bonus added here) . That was a relief as all sounded fine. Now we have a full album of new songs and Trial do it again. Their mix of heavy metal with prog and doom influences, make them one of my favorites.. Unfortunately far too few people have discovered the beauty of Trial, so maybe I should invite them over one day. Definitely check them out as their heavy metal offers just a bit more. Pleased to have them back.

Evergrey, Fractal Universe & Virtual Symmetry - Gebr. de Nobel Leiden, 25 September 2022

Evergrey finally making it to de Nobel again, this after several postponed tours. Within this delay they released two new albums, so suddenly they had lots of new music to present. Originally Witherfall would be supporting them on this tour and them being out of the package was a big loss for me. Luckily the two new supports both turned out to be good bands as well. Looking at this bill one week before Progpower did make you realize that this evening's package was more Progpower than Progpower itself this year. So a sort of warm-up show it became, with for me meeting up with people from various different spectra of my metal universe.

Virtual Symmetry opened tonight at what initially looked a very empty Nobel. Luckily that improved with time. This band is from Lugano, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. I don't know who were Swiss or Italian, but overall the band did remind of several other Italian bands who play accessible prog and power metal (think DGM, Pathosray and Zen). Their playing was good, as was the music. Not shockingly renewing the world of progmetal, but definitely quality. This all topped with an enthusiastic presentation and we can speak of a very nice opener of the evening. 

Next band were Fractal Universe from France. They play the more progressive and technical side of death metal. Last year they released The Impassable Horizon and I checked it out. With my life between two countries I did not order it at the time, since when back home the list of must get albums grew bigger already.Yesterday I made up for that at te end of the evening as Fractal Universe turned out to be great on stage. Next to grunts a fair share of clean vocals and at times I thought of a heavier version of Pain of Salvation. The band were running all over the stage and at the end the vocalist even appeared a few times with saxophone to spice matters up. Well I saw Wound Collector in Musicon this Friday and that band sets the standard for all saxophones in metal, still here it added something as well. I can not call them a surprise of the evening, when expectations were high already, but as good as hoped for and defiitely one to see in Baarlo one day.

And then it was up to Evergrey to conquer de Nobel. Well they have been here before, so that turned out easy. Evergrey to me falls in the category  bands I do go see live, but stop following on CD. So when they toured three new albums I don't know the result was that I did not recognize one song until Touch of Blessing closed the regular set. As such not much of a problem, since their music is accessible at first hearing as well. Tom Englund was good by voice this evening and his understated announcements in Swedish dry style work. The music was very Evergrey which means heavy. They are falling under the progmetal flag, but actually we get a heavy metal show, with power and prog bits blended in at times. The band are around for thirty years Tom said and I saw them first at Progpower again. I remember that I wondered why their bassist wore a leather skirt at that show in 2000. Nowadays they still sound pretty similar and their bassists still looks different. A great show, this time even not at the extreme loud levels I saw them last times, so more enjoyable. Still was it me or was Recreation Day a notch better than the other songs and were Fractal Universe the silent winners of the evening gaining many new fans?

Wound Collector, Celesterre & Façade - Musicon The Hague, 23 September 2022

It was the year 2020 and Corona forced Musicon to make their shows small all seated affairs. Due to my Portugal time I managed to attend only one, but heard from friends feedback on the shows. One band that apparently overwhelmed everyone in were Wound Collector from Belgium. They play death metal of the slightly technical kind, with as one of the main solo instruments a saxophone. Now I often read reviews by people stating how they hate all wind instruments blended in metal. Well to those people I can now say, why don't you go and see Wound Collector play live and I wonder if you won't be cured from that limitation. But before the Wound Collector party started we were treated on two supports.

Façade were the first band on stage and they started at 20:00. I was still in pre-corona modus when starting at 20:00 meant doors and bands would play between 21:00-24:00. So offering Marko a coffee when he passed home made us miss the first ten minutes. I think I only saw two songs now as Façade play long doom/death tracks. During the final song I was initially wondering why they brought three guitarists. This was until towards the end the long building song did burst into an explosion of heavyness which meant the first highlight of the evening. I want to see them again for a full set and have more time in the foreseeable future to play new music. Good band they seemed to be.

Celesterre are from The Hague and I did see them a few times live some years ago. I thought they split up by now as I didn't see their name passing by in recent years. Probably a mix of covid and me spending too much time in Portugal. Anyway when they started they sounded different to me, than what I recalled. I thought of them in the black folk corner with their nature worried lyrics. This evening I heard a fair share of heavy and power metal blended in as well. Turns out they released a new album named Earth in June this year. I thought their music hard to pinpoint, but it had some work to please the prog man in me as well. Introducing songs in an original way by declaring poems it was a different show, not that easy to grasp when first hearing all. As their album is just released I expect to see them more often in the near future.

After rebuilding the full stage Wound Collector came on. The funny shaped guitars made me hope that their death metal was more towards the tech side and it was indeed, with of course a main role for the saxophone. When playing saxophone possible needed grunts were swapped to the guitarist. Marko asked afterwards if he had said too much and he did not. A very entertaining set they played where the mix worked out fine and new and second guitarist Alfonso seemed at ease during his first show in The Netherlands as well. With songtitles like War and Slaughter in Your Holy Name, Crucifixtion to the Inverted Cross and No God Without Terror they showed their hearts are at the right place too. I highly enjoyed their set from start to finish and by the looks of it I was not the only one. The queue at the merch table afterwards said enough in that respect. I also got the package of Depravity CD and Tee and hope for a return after their new album has been released. Maybe next time this band deserves a spot at Kaderock giving them a chance to get a few hundred people turned into fan. Next week it is Progpower weekend for me and even there they would not be fully out of place I guess. Great band go and see them if you are around and Loud & Heavy thank you for presenting Wound Collector to me this evening.

Bridear - Musicon The Hague, 19 September 2022

A Monday night in autumn and Musicon did fill reasonably well for a band I never heard of before. Marko going and Jean Paul recommending made me decide to opt for live music above home sitting this evening. And starting with the end, a night well spent as Bridear turned out to be very entertaining on stage. For those (and I assume many) who also never heard of them before either, Bridear are a Japanese all female metal outfit. Metal Archives tells us they are playing Power Metal, Metalcore. I did hear bits of Helloween passing by at times indeed. Metalcore I don't know any references, but they had the occassional break. Some poprock got in the mix as well, as all songs were very asy on the ears at first hearing.  When checking the band out on Youtube I was worried about the vocals, as they did sound very light to me. Live this turned out to be less of a problem, also as you simply had to love Kimi with her smiles and asking us to get some merch through google translate on her phone. The fact that you can't understand their English is no problem, as that was no issue with Loudness either some 38 years ago.

Now I don't know any of their music, so basically my review stops here. Entertaining live, mostly due to their entusiasm and laughing on stage. Can I add some critical notes as well? Of courseI can like the grunts coming from a a tape added very little to me with this music. The cliches were all over their show and playbacking the background choirs should be trained a bit better. But what counted was the overall atmosphere and I guess everyone in enjoyed watching this set. No I did not go to the merch stand afterwards to buy myself some Bridear action figures. Those were available next to pictures and T-shirts, but strangely enough no CD's. Maybe their fanbase is so young that noone buys CD's anymore. Talking about the fanbase, as a regular in Musicon when heavy music is on I did recognize very few faces from the around 90 people present tonight. Let's hope these new visitors find their way back to Musicon more often and shall visit Wound Collector on Friday as well. This was a Monday night well spent, which most called funny afterwards. If that is a good sign depends on your level of cynism.  

Lillian Axe - Ironflame - Riot Act - UFO

Hard Rock from the summer of 2022

Lillian Axe - From Womb to Tomb

Ten years after XI The Days Before Tomorrow Lillian Axe are back on CD with From Womb to Tomb. Ten years is too long for Lillian Axe to keep their vocalist, so Brent Graham is taking care of duties now. Wayne Stokely is behind the drums and bassist is Michael Maxx Darby is back. Guitars are still in the safe hands of Sam Poitevent and band leader Steve Blaze. I picked this CD up during their show last week in Bradford and did not have enough spins yet to give a final ordeal. So far it seems to be another winner (said the fanboy). A long album it is with 16 songs spanning well over an hour. Well some are just soundbits or spoken word over piano. The overall sound is still very much Lillian Axe and their hard rock always was melodic and intelligent in a near prog style. At ProgPower I discuss every year with a fellow Lillian Axe fan if they would not fit the festival. I would say yes, but some might disagree as too much heavy metal in the blend. This album holds some heavy highlights again (The Golden Dragon), Dance of the Maggots is another high, where their religious foundations are not hidden. The album is best played from womb to tomb as there is a general line somewhere and you just will be pleased througout. At times calmer for a while, this is another winner indeed. I will need to have many more spins, before deciding how good it really is. I saw them live last week, and they are at their peak again, so please come back with a proper album promoting tour next year. A white T-shirt with the cool artwork shall be welcome.  

Ironflame - Where Madness Dwells

This band plays heavy metal as you expect with this bandname. I missed their previous three (!) releases of the past five years, so a productive lot they are. Ironflame plays heavy metal in the compact Maiden style. So there songs are around five minutes each and gives us all the metal we need. There are many younger bands nowadays, that play the traditional metal that the older ones can't give any longer. I would love to see this band live as I am sure it will be a party for every banger. Biggest chance to see them probably at a HOA, UTH or KIT festival.

Riot Act - Closer to the Flame

Riot Act is this other band touring the legacy of Riot. And doing so very well as I could witness myself last week in Bradford. Rick Ventura guitarist of Riot during their peak years. Another founding member of Riot Act was original Riot guitarist Lou Kouvaris, who sadly passed away in 2020. Musically Riot Act stay fairly close to old Riot on their more melodic albums. What helps is that with Don Chaffin the band holds a vocalist of the best sort. Ten songs and all compact make this not a long album, but one that is played very pleasantly. What is even better on CD, you get a bonus disc. That holds an overview of Riot's first albums in twelve songs. I did not read much about this band in magazines or online. From what I saw live, they should become big in the underground scene celebrating the best era in music.

UFO - High Stakes & Dangerous Men

No indeed, this is not a new album. The original album was released 30 years ago and meant the comeback of Pete Way to the band. Also it had Laurence Archer (Stampede, Grand Slam) on guitars plus Clive Edwards on drums. UFO went a bit under most radars those years before, so I missed this one at the time and started looking for it some years ago. Only available against crazy prices, I was more than pleased with the announcement of this re-release. This one comes with the addition of live album Lights Out in Tokyo recorded June 1992. If anything becomes clear on album and live bonus it is that with Pete Way back and Laurence Archer on guitars this band was in top shape. Listen to the classics and love the guitars. The High Stakes album holds also many good songs and Phil Mogg never disappointed on album or live. I am slightly gutted that I will miss the UFO farewell show in October, but this album is a decent substitute. Any fan of UFO should get this CD. Soon hereafter Schenker would be back and Laurence Archer and drummer Clive Edwards were asked to move further. Somehow I think thisi line-up could have brought us many great albums as well. 

Alcatrazz & Girlschool - Musicon The Hague, 30 August 2022

When this show was announced early 2020 Alcatrazz had just released their surprisingly strong comeback album Born Innocent. On vocals we had the very typical voice of Graham Bonnet which is so important to the band sound. I remember that I was in heaven that they came to Musicon as somehow I always managed to miss them live so far. As a bonus I thought Girlschool would be a nice warm-up and Asomvel received great critics from many directions. Fast forward to 30 August 2022 and everything would be pretty different. Asomvel was no longer part of the package, Alcatrazz would open the evening to my surprise and Graham Bonnet had left the band with Doogie White now on vocals, also on their 2021 album V. Still looking forward to finally seeing Alcatrazz I combined with Marko, Magchiel and Ton a trip to Musicon on this Tuesday evening.

At 20:30 Alcatrazz walked through Musicon towards the stage. Alcatrazz meant Doogie White on vocals, Joe Stump on guitars, original band members Gary Shea on bass and Jimmy Waldo on keyboards. Finally they had a new drummer who was introduced, but I do not remember his name. The band opened with a new song of their latest album Grace of God. Then Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live followed. Next was a Rainbow cover of the album that Dooge sung on. A new Alcatrazz song was followed by a Michael Schenker song which Doogie sung originally. So there was a pattern. Strangely Doogie sung with similar Rainbow and Schenker as Graham Bonnet did. In the past Alcatrazz would include cover songs from those bands in their set. Now the big difference is, that where Graham Bonnet sung on albums that are generally considered to be among the very best of Rainbow and MSG, with Doogie that is not really the case. So we got treated on several songs by Rainbow and MSG that you hardly remember. Not necessarily a bad thing but with also three songe from their latest album there was no time for classic Alcatrazz songs from their first two album that I loved. Only Jet to Jet and God Blessed Video would be played. Now we are talking on playing the band was tight. Jimmy and Gary had no issues while the new drummer did hit hard. Joe Stump turned out to be the hero of the evening. Either his own work of the last album or songs that originally held abolute guitar masters like Schenker, Yngwie, Blackmore and Vai he played it all seemingly with no effort. his solos were fast and furious and he kept the level up. On Doogie's performance opinions were more divided. I liked it, even though he missed some high notes. Others thought it missing too much and thus reducing the fun of the evening. At the end when I was hoping for a Kree Nakoorie or Starcarr Lane we were treated on Rainbow's Temple of the King. Initially disappointed it turned out to be the absolute highlight of the evening. Doogie dedicated this song to the people we lost and at the end he got emotional, before the audience was asked to keep on singing the melody (whooooohowhowho whooahowhoooo) and he remembered Jimmy Bain, Cozy Powell, John Lord and Ronnie James Dio during the song. What a beautifull end it turned out to be of an overall good show. Now I was among those people who never saw Alcatrazz live. So yes I am disappointed to not get many songs from No Parole and Distubring the Peace. If I would have seen Alcatrazz ten times before I would have loved this bold move. From the covers especially Ariel and Take Me to the Church worked very fine. Now I am going to play me some Kree Nakoorie, Island in the Sun, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Stripper, Painted Lover, Sons and Lovers and Dangerous Games. Who knows next time I get them live. After the show I decided to get the V CD for completion reasons and also a solo album by Joe Stump, which is a shred fest and sounds like eighties Yngwie instrumentals. 

Then it was up to Girlschool to follow this up. I expected a problem, but I was wrong. It turned out that more people had shown up for Girlschool than for Alcatrazz. Suddenly it got packed before the stage and arms and voices participated throughout. Now I was never really into Girlschool myself. Already 40 years ago I thought their music a bit too simple and straightforward. Live this works though as most people seemed to be enjoying the show. Demolition and Let's Go opened and soon you noticed how
most songs includede endless repeat of the chorus which was an invitation for shouting along. A funny singalong moment came when the band asked us to do so and Jackie Chambers starting shouting Matrix Den Haag. Noone new what she was on about, until Kim McAuliffe told her that she was in Musicon (and no longer in Bochum) as they could read on the bright shining logo behind them. If already a succes with the audience with Bombers included, they could do nothing wrong with most. I liked watching their set, but musically kept on wondering how they were headlining over Alcatrazz.  Still a good evening was had by all and luckily even on a Tuesday night and national rail on strike, many people found their way to Musicon. What's next for me? Wound Collector 23 September.